This was the my state a couple days ago when I decided that I wanted to build an IRC server.  The why is not important… (For the fun of building an IRC Server).  So I googled around a hell of a lot bit until I finally found some code that worked on its own, and quickly built a semi-functional IRC server using it, and headed off to sleep at 5am.

The next day I was very, very happy with the results of my hard labor, but it wasn’t good enough, so I started re-writing it from scratch as an Object, and thus I created class::IRCServer.

Today, once I felt that I was finished screwing around with my newly built IRCd, I decided to modify the function enough to be used on its own as a socket server, to share with the world.

And thus, class::SocketServer was created.

Code block
   
< ?php
	/*!	@class		SocketServer
		@author		Navarr Barnier
		@abstract 	A Framework for creating a multi-client server using the PHP language.
	 */
	class SocketServer
	{
		/*!	@var		config
			@abstract	Array - an array of configuration information used by the server.
		 */
		protected $config;
 
		/*!	@var		hooks
			@abstract	Array - a dictionary of hooks and the callbacks attached to them.
		 */
		protected $hooks;
 
		/*!	@var		master_socket
			@abstract	resource - The master socket used by the server.
		 */
		protected $master_socket;
 
		/*!	@var		max_clients
			@abstract	unsigned int - The maximum number of clients allowed to connect.
		 */
		public $max_clients = 10;
 
		/*!	@var		max_read
			@abstract	unsigned int - The maximum number of bytes to read from a socket at a single time.
		 */
		public $max_read = 1024;
 
		/*!	@var		clients
			@abstract	Array - an array of connected clients.
		 */
		public $clients;
 
		/*!	@function	__construct
			@abstract	Creates the socket and starts listening to it.
			@param		string	- IP Address to bind to, NULL for default.
			@param		int	- Port to bind to
			@result		void
		 */
		public function __construct($bind_ip,$port)
		{
			set_time_limit(0);
			$this->hooks = array();
 
			$this->config["ip"] = $bind_ip;
			$this->config["port"] = $port;
 
			$this->master_socket = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
			socket_bind($this->master_socket,$this->config["ip"],$this->config["port"]) or die("Issue Binding");
			socket_getsockname($this->master_socket,$bind_ip,$port);
			socket_listen($this->master_socket);
			SocketServer::debug("Listenting for connections on {$bind_ip}:{$port}");
		}
 
		/*!	@function	hook
			@abstract	Adds a function to be called whenever a certain action happens.  Can be extended in your implementation.
			@param		string	- Command
			@param		callback- Function to Call.
			@see		unhook
			@see		trigger_hooks
			@result		void
		 */
		public function hook($command,$function)
		{
			$command = strtoupper($command);
			if(!isset($this->hooks[$command])) { $this->hooks[$command] = array(); }
			$k = array_search($function,$this->hooks[$command]);
			if($k === FALSE)
			{
				$this->hooks[$command][] = $function;
			}
		}
 
		/*!	@function	unhook
			@abstract	Deletes a function from the call list for a certain action.  Can be extended in your implementation.
			@param		string	- Command
			@param		callback- Function to Delete from Call List
			@see		hook
			@see		trigger_hooks
			@result		void
		 */
		public function unhook($command = NULL,$function)
		{
			$command = strtoupper($command);
			if($command !== NULL)
			{
				$k = array_search($function,$this->hooks[$command]);
				if($k !== FALSE)
				{
					unset($this->hooks[$command][$k]);
				}
			} else {
				$k = array_search($this->user_funcs,$function);
				if($k !== FALSE)
				{
					unset($this->user_funcs[$k]);
				}
			}
		}
 
		/*!	@function	loop_once
			@abstract	Runs the class's actions once.
			@discussion	Should only be used if you want to run additional checks during server operation.  Otherwise, use infinite_loop()
			@param		void
			@see		infinite_loop
			@result 	bool	- True
		*/
		public function loop_once()
		{
			// Setup Clients Listen Socket For Reading
			$read[0] = $this->master_socket;
			for($i = 0; $i < $this->max_clients; $i++)
			{
				if(isset($this->clients[$i]))
				{
					$read[$i + 1] = $this->clients[$i]->socket;
				}
			}
 
			// Set up a blocking call to socket_select
			if(socket_select($read,$write = NULL, $except = NULL, $tv_sec = 5) < 1)
			{
			//	SocketServer::debug("Problem blocking socket_select?");
				return true;
			}
 
			// Handle new Connections
			if(in_array($this->master_socket, $read))
			{
				for($i = 0; $i < $this->max_clients; $i++)
				{
					if(empty($this->clients[$i]))
					{
						$temp_sock = $this->master_socket;
						$this->clients[$i] = new SocketServerClient($this->master_socket,$i);
						$this->trigger_hooks("CONNECT",$this->clients[$i],"");
						break;
					}
					elseif($i == ($this->max_clients-1))
					{
						SocketServer::debug("Too many clients...   ");
					}
				}
 
			}
 
			// Handle Input
			for($i = 0; $i < $this->max_clients; $i++) // for each client
			{
				if(isset($this->clients[$i]))
				{
					if(in_array($this->clients[$i]->socket, $read))
					{
						$input = socket_read($this->clients[$i]->socket, $this->max_read);
						if($input == null)
						{
							$this->disconnect($i);
						}
						else
						{
							SocketServer::debug("{$i}@{$this->clients[$i]->ip} --> {$input}");
							$this->trigger_hooks("INPUT",$this->clients[$i],$input);
						}
					}
				}
			}
			return true;
		}
 
		/*!	@function	disconnect
			@abstract	Disconnects a client from the server.
			@param		int	- Index of the client to disconnect.
			@param		string	- Message to send to the hooks
			@result		void
		*/
		public function disconnect($client_index,$message = "")
		{
			$i = $client_index;
			SocketServer::debug("Client {$i} from {$this->clients[$i]->ip} Disconnecting");
			$this->trigger_hooks("DISCONNECT",$this->clients[$i],$message);
			$this->clients[$i]->destroy();
			unset($this->clients[$i]);
		}
 
		/*!	@function	trigger_hooks
			@abstract	Triggers Hooks for a certain command.
			@param		string	- Command who's hooks you want to trigger.
			@param		object	- The client who activated this command.
			@param		string	- The input from the client, or a message to be sent to the hooks.
			@result		void
		*/
		public function trigger_hooks($command,&$client,$input)
		{
			if(isset($this->hooks[$command]))
			{
				foreach($this->hooks[$command] as $function)
				{
					SocketServer::debug("Triggering Hook '{$function}' for '{$command}'");
					$continue = call_user_func($function,$this,$client,$input);
					if($continue === FALSE) { break; }
				}
			}
		}
 
		/*!	@function	infinite_loop
			@abstract	Runs the server code until the server is shut down.
			@see		loop_once
			@param		void
			@result		void
		*/
		public function infinite_loop()
		{
			$test = true;
			do
			{
				$test = $this->loop_once();
			}
			while($test);
		}
 
		/*!	@function	debug
			@static
			@abstract	Outputs Text directly.
			@discussion	Yeah, should probably make a way to turn this off.
			@param		string	- Text to Output
			@result		void
		*/
		public static function debug($text)
		{
			echo("{$text}\r\n");
		}
 
		/*!	@function	socket_write_smart
			@static
			@abstract	Writes data to the socket, including the length of the data, and ends it with a CRLF unless specified.
			@discussion	It is perfectly valid for socket_write_smart to return zero which means no bytes have been written. Be sure to use the === operator to check for FALSE in case of an error.
			@param		resource- Socket Instance
			@param		string	- Data to write to the socket.
			@param		string	- Data to end the line with.  Specify a "" if you don't want a line end sent.
			@result		mixed	- Returns the number of bytes successfully written to the socket or FALSE on failure. The error code can be retrieved with socket_last_error(). This code may be passed to socket_strerror() to get a textual explanation of the error.
		*/
		public static function socket_write_smart(&$sock,$string,$crlf = "\r\n")
		{
			SocketServer::debug("< -- {$string}");
			if($crlf) { $string = "{$string}{$crlf}"; }
			return socket_write($sock,$string,strlen($string));
		}
 
		/*!	@function	__get
			@abstract	Magic Method used for allowing the reading of protected variables.
			@discussion	You never need to use this method, simply calling $server->variable works because of this method's existence.
			@param		string	- Variable to retrieve
			@result		mixed	- Returns the reference to the variable called.
		*/
		function &__get($name)
		{
			return $this->{$name};
		}
	}
 
	/*!	@class		SocketServerClient
		@author		Navarr Barnier
		@abstract	A Client Instance for use with SocketServer
	 */
	class SocketServerClient
	{
		/*!	@var		socket
			@abstract	resource - The client's socket resource, for sending and receiving data with.
		 */
		protected $socket;
 
		/*!	@var		ip
			@abstract	string - The client's IP address, as seen by the server.
		 */
		protected $ip;
 
		/*!	@var		hostname
			@abstract	string - The client's hostname, as seen by the server.
			@discussion	This variable is only set after calling lookup_hostname, as hostname lookups can take up a decent amount of time.
			@see		lookup_hostname
		 */
		protected $hostname;
 
		/*!	@var		server_clients_index
			@abstract	int - The index of this client in the SocketServer's client array.
		 */
		protected $server_clients_index;
 
		/*!	@function	__construct
			@param		resource- The resource of the socket the client is connecting by, generally the master socket.
			@param		int	- The Index in the Server's client array.
			@result		void
		 */
		public function __construct(&$socket,$i)
		{
			$this->server_clients_index = $i;
			$this->socket = socket_accept($socket) or die("Failed to Accept");
			SocketServer::debug("New Client Connected");
			socket_getpeername($this->socket,$ip);
			$this->ip = $ip;
		}
 
		/*!	@function	lookup_hostname
			@abstract	Searches for the user's hostname and stores the result to hostname.
			@see		hostname
			@param		void
			@result		string	- The hostname on success or the IP address on failure.
		 */
		public function lookup_hostname()
		{
			$this->hostname = gethostbyaddr($this->ip);
			return $this->hostname;
		}
 
		/*!	@function	destroy
			@abstract	Closes the socket.  Thats pretty much it.
			@param		void
			@result		void
		 */
		public function destroy()
		{
			socket_close($this->socket);
		}
 
		function &__get($name)
		{
			return $this->{$name};
		}
 
		function __isset($name)
		{
			return isset($this->{$name});
		}
	}

class::SocketServer does all the functions necessary for a server.  It binds to the IP address and starts listening to the port.  Its easy to specify a maximum number of clients to allow, and the way its coded makes it easily modified.

Here is an example of a server (using this class) that listens for a user to send a string, and then echoes the reverse of that string back to the user.

Code block
   
< ?php
	// This is PHP5 Code, by the way.
 
	require_once("SocketServer.class.php"); // Include the Class File
	$server = new SocketServer(null,31337); // Create a Server binding to the default IP address (null) and listen to port 31337 for connections
	$server->max_clients = 10; // Allow no more than 10 people to connect at a time
	$server->hook("CONNECT","handle_connect"); // Run handle_connect everytime someone connects
	$server->hook("INPUT","handle_input"); // Run handle_input whenever text is sent to the server
	$server->infinite_loop(); // Run Server Code Until Process is terminated.
 
	/*
	 * All hooked functions are sent the parameters $server (The server class), $client (the connection), and $input (anything sent, if anything was sent)
	 * You should save the variables $server and $client using an ampersand (&) to make sure they are references to the objects and not duplications.
	 */
	function handle_connect(&$server,&$client,$input)
	{
		SocketServer::socket_write_smart($client->socket,"String? ",""); // Outputs 'String? ' without a Line Ending
	}
	function handle_input(&$server,&$client,$input)
	{
		$trim = trim($input); // Trim the input, Remove Line Endings and Extra Whitespace.
 
		if(strtolower($trim) == "quit") // User Wants to quit the server
		{
			SocketServer::socket_write_smart($client->socket,"Oh... Goodbye..."); // Give the user a sad goodbye message, meany!
			$server->disconnect($client->server_clients_index); // Disconnect this client.
			return; // Ends the function
		}
 
		$output = strrev($trim); // Reverse the String
 
		SocketServer::socket_write_smart($client->socket,$output); // Send the Client back the String
		SocketServer::socket_write_smart($client->socket,"String? ",""); // Request Another String
	}

In essence, this class allows you to handle sockets in PHP. Beautifully handle sockets in PHP, that is.

Me, with my fantastic idea, came up with a couple variables classes that I put in a file named class_typesetting.php.  The version on gist.github is slightly modified from the original version on the server.

It creates three classes, GenericVariable, String, and Number.  So far we haven’t used GenericVariable, but since the introduction of the classes I’ve taken it upon myself to introduce them to any new code I write.  When we create Core v5 (which will Objectify everything) strings taken from SQL will automatically be re-stored as String class variables.

First, lets examine some useful functionality.

Code block
   
<?php
$title = new String($_POST[“title”]); // <strong>Hello 'World'</strong>
?>
HTML Output: <?= $title->html ?> (&lt;strong&gt;Hello 'World'&lt;/strong&gt;)
Text Output: <?= $title->text ?> (Hello 'World')
SQL Output: <?= $title->sql ?> (<strong>Hello \'World\'</strong>)
HTML Attribute Output: <?= $title->html_attr ?>(&lt;strong&gt;Hello &#039;World&#039;&lt;/strong&gt;)

This allows for quick and easy access to the variables without having to worry about escaping them.

I recommend you hit the download link (class_typesetting.php) and play around with it.  Tell me about anything that’s not working correctly and if possible implement it in your future code.  (This means I’m putting this code in the “Public Domain”).

This timer will only activate when the notification is opened, and will close the notification even if the page that originally spawned it has been closed.

Create and Show a new HTMLNotification.

Code block
   
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
	<head>
		<title>Notification Title</title>
		<style type="text/css">
			body,body* { font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; }
			h1 { font-family: sans-serif; margin: 0; padding: 0; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; }
			p { margin: 0; padding: 0; }
		</style>
	</head>
	<body onload="setTimeout(self.close,5000)">
		<h1>Notification Title</h1>
		<p>Notification Text</p>
	</body>
</html>

That will close the window after five seconds and will look just like a normal notification!

What I learned is: Notification Windows respond to the javascript method self.close()

Go ahead, look at their twitter page (but only for a second).  You notice how all of their posts are from Facebook, and only contain links?  Yeah.  They’re doing Twitter wrong (but I have many, many more beefs with them than just their twitter page).

First, let me briefly describe my situation with these people.  I purchased something they said they could do.  Turns out they couldn’t do it (after not replying for like a month or two).  I ask for a refund in that case.  Nothing happens, none of my emails get returned (for like ANOTHER month or two).  I write a horrible review for the company on Facebook (wasn’t the only one), consider reporting them to the BBB, etc.  Nothing happens (for like another month or so).  I get an email from Facebook, they commented on my review, I immediately got help via email and I got my return via Paypal.

Then, I go back to update the review I gave them (I was going to add a star, to give them 2/5 for at least paying attention), and I found out something that made me wish I could give them 0/5 stars.

The Facebook Review Tab had been REMOVED.

This company went out of its way to disable user-created discussions in the discussion tab, remove the review tab, and block users from posting anything on their wall.

Please, Stop.  You’re doing it WRONG.

I don’t know what else to say.. how could you possibly be doing something so horribly wrong?

I do not like getting this every couple of weeks, or days.. I don’t know, I have no concept of time, but this isn’t the first time its happened.

Please?

Image Namespace

Images are something commonly shared throughout twitter.  Something that would be fantastically idealistic would be embedding image data into twitter annotations.

Due to constraints, images should be resized to a lower-quality “preview”.  Possibly VGA or so?  A link to a privately hosted image should also be available.

Using the current preview information supplied by the twitter development team, I imagine that it would go something like this:

Code block
   
"image":
{
        "preview": "data here.. base64 etc.",
        "preview_encode": "base64", // Or whatever else floats your boat.  "bin" or "binary" for raw data.
        "full_src": "http://example.org/link/to/image.jpg"
}

Any additional thoughts on other information that should be included?  Maybe a title and description, or is that not needed?  Please, leave all of your thoughts and ideas in the comments!

Now if you use Google Voice, you can use this to your advantage with the simple addition of just a few seconds to the call.

Continue Reading for Instructions on how to Outlook up to dial through Google Voice

First, you’ll want to go to your contacts and open up the Calling Dialogue.  Do this by clicking More > Call > New Call…

You should get a dialogue that looks something like:

You’ll notice immediately that it has been around for ages.  What we want, though, is “Dialing Properties.”  Once that pops up, you’ll (probably) want to create a New… location.

Name it something like “Everywhere” and give it the area code “999” or another area code that is never used.

Now that that little bit is out of the way, we can get to actually creating the dialer.  Go to the Calling Card tab and click New…

Give it a name like “Google Voice.”  For your account number, enter your ten digit Google Voice number, and for your PIN, enter.. your Pin.

Go to the Long Distance tab and enter the following rules:

1. Dial the account number.  (Button: Account Number)
2. Wait for 4 seconds. (Button: Wait for Prompt…, click “Wait for a specific length of time:” and then enter the number 4)
3. Dial * (Button: Specify Digits…, enter the asterisk)
4. Wait for 4 seconds.
5. Dial the PIN number. (Button: PIN)
6. Wait for 4 seconds.
7. Dial 2 (Button: Specify Digits…, enter the number 2)
8. Wait for 2 seconds. (Button: Wait for Prompt…, click “Wait for a specific length of time:” and then enter the number 2)
9. Dial the area code and number. (Button: Destination Number…, make sure “Dial the area code” is selected and “Dial the country/region code” is not.)
10. Dial # (Button: Specify Digits…, enter the pound sign: #)

Click OK and make sure that Google Voice (or whatever you named it) is selected as the calling card.

Click OK, OK, and then feel free to make any calls you want using your Google Voice number. 

Calls Out Using Modem

Doesn’t Skype do some fantastic Skype-Out thing where you can even use a specific number as a calling card and call out using it?  A whole crapload of notebooks and desktops still ship with modems, why not utilize it!  If you don’t have a connection to the net (or you’re just crazy), you could call out using a Skype-Out Call-In Number!  Wouldn’t that be AWESOME?

Calls Out with Calling Card through Modem

Yeah, yeah, companies don’t like competition or whatnot, but if the previous is supported, why not spice it up a little and allow us to use a different calling card through the settings?  That would allow Google Voice users to make outbound calls using Google Voice through Skype, and that would just be AWESOME.

Answering Calls Through Modem

Is your phone ringing?  Yeah, don’t you wish you could pick it up using Skype?  All it has to do is learn to speak through the modem and BABOOSH, you can now answer your landline ON SKYPE (GOOGLE VOICE MAKES THIS MORE AWESOME).

Contact Synchronization with Google

Come ON.  EVERYTHING needs this.

1) URL Shorteners Keep You Safe

One of the things URL shorteners do now is they keep you safe from malicious websites.  You can preview the site you are visiting, and if its determined to be delicious the short URL will either be deleted or blocked or a warning will be shown, letting you know it is no longer safe to visit that URL.

2) URL Shorteners are Branded

All I really have to say here is “Bit.ly Pro”  URL Shorteners now have custom branding, so it makes it even easier to send people to your website or promote your brand on twitter by including the link in the text.

3) URL Shorteners are Easy to Remember

When they are used correctly.  Services like bit.ly allow you to give a custom name to your short link.  This is especially useful in media such as Television or Print: http://j.mp/cnn-transgender is much easier to remember and type than www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/14/transgender.irpt/index.html?hpt=C1

With even just these three simple reasons in mind, it is very clear to me that URL shorteners will not be dying anytime soon, no matter how much metadata you can attach to tweets.  I’m not even sure they’re bad for the internet, anymore.

Oh Apple, has anyone told you lately that you’re CRAZY?